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-> Editor
<- Concerned citizens

It has come to our attention, and we wish to make everyone aware, that state
and city governments of this state are not acting in the best interest of
it's citizens. The way they are doing this is that they have no money yet
they continue to give hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not then millions)
to software manufactures by purchasing licenses for their software and
operating systems (OS) even though there are alternatives to these which are
part of a movement known as 'open source'. This movement is one in which the
source code (inner workings of the program) is available for everyone to
inspect and to improve upon. While some say this leads to less secure
programs, that is not true. The individuals who write computer virii are are
usually young and inexperienced individuals who think they are smarter than
they really are (this is why they get caught). And while they are looking at
the code with malicious overtones wiser individuals are inspecting the same
code fixing any security flaws they might find.

Because the code is open for all to see it is also open for any to compile
(make operational) in whatever computing environment they wish. This means
that the applications are free to use. In the end the final analysis of this
discussion is the fact that for only the cost of the hardware you can have an
operating system that runs many top-notch programs that many believe are
superior to operating systems and software you must purchase a license for.
Our belief is that in order to reduce costs, increase stablity and security,
and to reduce vendor lockin the state and city governments of this state
should ecourage the use of open source software..

I now would like to provide you with a listing of government agencies that
have chosen to go with open source software to reduce costs, increase
security, and to
improve performance:

-U.S. agencies like the Air Force, the Marine Corps, the Naval Research
Laboratory, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Agriculture and
Energy Departments just to name a few
-Intelligence agencies in the US, Canada, Germany, England, Spain, France,
and others
-The U.S. National Security Agency has even created its own version of Linux,
Security-Enhanced Linux, available for download from its Web site

Some state, local, and federal governments that use open source for the same
reasons include:

-Largo, Florida
Largo thought of installing Microsoft Office, but decided that the $100,000
price tag, the cost of maintaining OpenOffice.org over six years, was more
cost-effective when compared to $1.5 Million for licensing, installing, and
maintaining the proprietary software over the same period of time.
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/08/10/1441239
-Bloomington, Indiana -Chappaqua, N.Y. -St George, Utah
Bloomington has found that open source is extremely reliable. They have one
server which has been up for more than 600 days.
In Chappaqua, N.Y. the ambulance company shifted its dispatch system to Linux.
In November, 1998 St George switched it's dispatch computers from an operating
system which was crashing almost daily basis, to an open source product.
http://www.cioupdate.com/article.php/10493_1497311
-Houston, Texas -Los Angeles -Portland, Oregon
Houston runs Web and domain name servers on the open source platform.
School districts in Portland, Oregon and Los Angeles use open software.
http://www.linuxworld.com/story/34260.htm?DE=1
-Garden Grove, California
By November of 1995 Garden Grove moved its computers to open source. They now
run 24 hours a day and are very stable.
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=218
-City government of, Italy
Renaud Dutreil, France's civil service minister, said said they would use
"open-source" software on some of it's computers, in a cost-cutting move to
reduce their deficit.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2809001,00.html
-Government of Israel
The Department of Commerce plans to move most of its users to the open source
program OpenOffice.org http://www.linuxworld.com/story/38223.htm
-The German government.
In June of 2002 the German government made an open source deal with IBM and
SuSE Linux for its federal, local, and, state computer systems.
www.iht.com/cgi-bin/generic.cgi?template=articleprint.tmplh&ArticleId=70026
-City government of Schwäbisch Hall, Germany
Open source software will replace proprietary software at government offices
to save more than $99,255 a year.
-Bergen, Norway
Bergen has chosen to replace some propietary computers with open source
servers for its schools and city databases and could later put the
open-source operating system on desktop machines.
-France
Bruno Mannoni, head of IT at the Ministry of Culture said they have cut back
expenses by replacing its Windows NT and Unix servers with open-source
alternatives. http://linux.bryanconsulting.com/stories/storyReader$64
-China plans to use Linux solely in the 2008 Olympic games
http://www.asia-links.com/news/article.asp?articleid=13866&type=56
-Taiwan plans to move half of it's government's computers to Linux by 2007
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=4631

Sincerely:
Michael Havens






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